Unlikely
by SoraLearnedToFly
Summary: AU- In the world where everything is new for Karin and language isn't the only barrier, how will she hold up? Destiny's on crack, life is flickery and luck isn't a lady but it seems they're all suckers for happy endings. Meet Karin Kurosaki as a lovely exchange student and Toshiro Hitsugaya as a grumpy american teen... Rest of Bleach cast is just being random. Rating may go up to M
1. Chapter 1

**_Chapter One - Leaving _**  
_(Karin's POV) _

When her alarm clock went off that morning, she did not have any will to get up. Honestly, it was way too early. Anytime before noon was way too early for her. Karin stared at the ceiling, gathering up power to stand up. She rubbed her eyes and walking towards the promising smell from kitchen, she about killed herself when she tripped over her luggage.

_"Kariiin, your breakfast is _–baaam- _…ready?! Karin, are you ok?!" _screamed the voice from downstairs, followed by hasty steps approaching Karin's room.

_"I am all right Yuzu." _Growled Karin while standing up, feeling the bump that was slowly forming on her head. _"I just forgot about the stupid thing." _She pointed towards said traitorous trunk, lying innocently on the ground.

Karin quickly regretted bringing up the trunk, because Yuzu looked like she was ready to cry, yet again.

_"Aw Karin, I still can't believe you are going away! Are sure you will be ok, all by yourself?" _that was Yuzu's favorite question these days, and as bazillion times before, Karin answered her: _"Yeah, I am absolutely sure…And don't worry, it's not like I am never coming back" _

Karin frowned as her impossible father locked her and her twin in another (and hopefully last) of his suffocating hugs. After he finally released them, the well known whine was heard: _"Ah, Misaki, our daughter is growing up!" _Karin looked around the house for the last time. She tried to memorize all the things she liked, and even things she didn't like, after all, she is not going to be able to see them for some time. It made her chest tighten, just thinking about it.

_"Are you girls ready, it's about the time!" _yelled her brother from upstairs.

_"Yup, ready to roll Ichi!" _Came somehow shaky reply from Yuzu.

Karin looked at her backpack and the huge trunk that was so fatal this morning. Her laptop was safely in there, her camera checked, yep, she thought with mild satisfaction, she managed to pack successfully. She gave last smile to her father as Ichigo grabbed car keys and helped her carry her things to the car.

_"So what do you think, last chance to back off, midget." _Her brother was teasing her, she knew.

_"Yeah, likely story, if you were able to make it, I am sure I will ace it." _She snickered.

The way to the airport was mostly spent talking to Yuzu and Ichigo, and then, sooner than she would have imagined, she was saying her byes and promising to write and call as soon and as much as possible. And off she went.  
This was her first time flying alone, so she was little nervous. Tokyo airport was really enormous, which did not help her anxiety at all. She looked over her papers, checking if she had all she needed. –breath, it's going to be all right, just breath, Karin– she told herself over and over.  
She put her trunk on to the check out, receiving her boarding pass, happy to find out she had the window seat. She went through the passport and passenger luggage controls and so now she had about thirty minutes to kill.  
She wandered around the duty free zone, thinking about how in the whole world she wound up like this…

***Flashback* **  
(Four months ago)  
_"With your grades, Karin, I think it is great opportunity for you. Your brother talked about it with me, and I agree, you would profit from that kind of experience." _She was only halfway listening to what her teacher told her. Yes, she agreed, it would be nice, but she wasn't sure if she was ready for that kind of decision…  
However, after a week of thinking, she finally said yes, and from that point on, it rolled like a landslide.  
***End of flashback* **

Karin sighed. Ichigo was not right this time; it was already too late to back off. After all, she was not the type of person that would take back her words – and, honestly, how bad can it be, to be an exchange student? Karin furrowed her brows in the deep thought – well, I guess I will find out pretty soon, – Karin told to herself and walked on.  
She walked around for a while, bought herself a muffin and some drinks for the long flight and then started to walk in the direction of her departure gate.  
The time seemed to drag terribly as she waited to finally be seated, but once she made it to the airplane, her thoughts started to fly around. She couldn't help but try to imagine what her "new" family will be like.  
Shortly, Karin gave in to the sleep that was creeping up on her, as she looked outside of the window on the endlessly blue sky.

**-  
Author's notes (bla-bla-bla of mine)**  
First of all, I am not native speaker, so if you find any kind of grammar/spelling mistakes please don't shower me with negative comments, just be polite about it and please kindly let me know, as English is not my first language, it will be very helpful. Thank you all in advance.

Some of the speech parts are in italics for reason; Karin is an exchange student coming from Japan to U.S., the italics are to show when she is speaking Japanese, with her family or by accident – as I don't speak Japanese, and I think not many of you do either, I decided not to bother you with some crappy Google translate grammar, but just write it in English so we all understand

Apart from that, there is nothing much I would add, I hope the story won't be too boring and you will enjoy it as it enfolds, thanks for reading,  
Your Sora


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter two - getting ready **_  
_(Toshiro's POV) _

Several time-zones away from Karin, the day was not looking all that bright for one American teenager either - the white haired boy that was currently in his room, basking in his gloomy mood. He was sitting at the table, sorting through his advanced biology papers, thinking…

***Flashback* **  
Tall white haired teen was peacefully listening to his i-pod sprawled on the couch and enjoying the somehow-boring tranquility of an early summer morning. He was about to close his eyes when he spotted something very bright colored coming quickly to his field of vision.  
With trained precision he avoided the glomp of what was now comically lying on the couch. The person composed themselves and stood up, dusting off the non-existing dirt. Attacker proved to be a tall, blindingly beautiful girl with nice curves and strawberry blond hair reaching up to the middle of her back. She focused her grayish blue eyes on the boy, as if not sure how to start after her glomping attack have been so rudely interrupted.

"I need to talk to you." tall girl stated with a happy beam. Any other male on the planet would have been more than happy to have 'a talk' with the young woman like her however - he knew better.

"Ran, I will under _no circumstances _let you hold a drinking party here – Aunt Retsu told you already that you are not allowed to do that!" said teenager with a definite scowl forming on his face, his teal eyes burning holes in her puppy stare.

"Aww, you are such a spoilsport, dear cousin, but no – that is not what I wanted to talk about!" she said, smiling. Now that was something that scared the boy quite a bit – if he were of a little weaker nature, he would have been probably running for his life now, because the smile of Rangiku Matsumoto was the one of lion showing its fangs to its about-to-be-lunch… But he had learned long ago that with his cousins it was better to take it straight on, because running from their crazy ideas proven nearly as effective as running from a rolling avalanche.

"Ok, I am gonna regret this later, but what is it you need to talk about?" he said.

"Youaregettinganexchangestude nt!" she blurted out.

"Rangiku, if you are not going to speak in a way that a normal mortal human being can understand, go home." said boy with a chilling glare.

"You, you are gonna get an exchange student! Aunt Retsu told me to tell you." Ran was not sure how well is he going to take it – well, she was not thinking much at all when she agreed to be the one to tell him.

"What?!" Oh no. No no. They didn't – tell me they didn't!

Rangiku could see the wheels turning inside his head – now was a good time to start brainwashing: "Oh, come on! Its gonna be fun, really. It's really good student and clever and everything – _we _helped Retsu pick!" The look boy gave her was a sign she was not going in the right direction. "Don't be like that – it is unfair to that kid to just back off now – it's three days before the deadline and it's not like another family will take the student! Can you just rob someone of the lifetime opportunity like that?" she heard him whine and knew that this battle was coming to a victory on her side.

"Ok, do whatever you want – After all, aunt Retsu have already decided as I take it." his frown deepened. This was just what he needed for a boost for his Junior year, not.

'I don't want to see his reaction when he finds out that the exchange person is actually a girl, ' was only dark thought crossing Ran's mind before she hugged her complaining cousin and skipped away, humming a happy tune.  
***End of flashback* **

The soft knock and opening of door interrupted his thoughts. "Come on, it's time to go." said a black haired woman smiling enthusiastically – he didn't have the heart to be complaining when he saw how ridiculously happy his aunt was about the exchange student.

"Is Uncle not commin'?" he asked. "No, he has too much work, you know the harvest is over and there is just too much paperwork and bills to do, well, get your things and take those balloons Ran brought over, I'll take the transparent and wait for you in car." his aunt said and then exit the room.

'Here we go…' he thought grimly as he, too, got out of his room and taking the balloons, made his way to garage.

**-  
Author's notes (bla-bla-bla of mine) **  
My spell check died and a blind, senile old russian cat-lady is filling in for it.

Anyhow, here you have the second chapter – introduction of our favorite white haired scowling taicho as an American teenager :) And fyi Matsumoto will be Toushiro's cousin and Unohana taicho an aunt with whom Shiro lives. Beware, I'll call some of the Bleach cast by their first names only in the story, cause their last names are gonna be different according to the families they are in. Bottom line - Retsu Unohana will just be Retsu From now on :)

I really do hope that you like the story so far - read and review, I wanna hear what you think.

~Sora


	3. Chapter 3

"... talking ..."  
"..._ talking in japanese ..._"  
'... thinking ...'

**chapter 3**

It was very hectic to change flights in LAX - especially because Karin never flew by herself and she was trying hard not to be nervous. Luckily, her sharp personality kicked in and she pulled her way through. She was quite satisfied with herself as she sat down on the comfy seat and looked out of the window. It was hard, she thought, not to know what to expect. With way too many things still running through her mind, she slowly drifted to sleep.

Karin woke up from her peaceful slumber just when the flight attendants started checking if all the passengers are prepared for landing. She was happy that the tedious journey was coming to an end – although, the anxiety was slowly creeping up to her.

"_Cha, you will rock this place!_" said Karin to herself as the plane landed. When the "fasten-seatbelt" light went off, Karin quickly grabbed her carry-on bag and hoodie and made her way out of the plane.

Denver international airport, as she came to know later, was the biggest airport in U.S. as far as the area was concerned. It was all new and modern – Karin liked it a lot. She saw a little girl sitting on her father's trunk and blowing bubbles. Karin smiled for the briefest moment -America may not be that bad after all. She got on the train that was (hopefully) going to take her to the main hall, where her host-family should be waiting for her.

"_Geez._" scowled Karin when she saw her reflection in the train window. Her hair was holly mess and her baggy t-shirt 'Tokyo Rocks' and football shorts made her look like a culturally misplaced hobo. "_Well, hell..._"

Meanwhile, at the airport entrance, Toshiro was feeling little annoyed. "Aunt Retsu, you know, we should REALLY get going." said Toshiro for what seemed like a millionth time to him. "I know, I know. It should be somewhere around here." said Retsu absent mindedly, checking the time on her cell phone.

"The flight should be here already, so just look for someone short and Japanese." said Retsu unfolding the transparent. Toshiro felt a little odd, being there, tall boy in black with white hair, holding oddly colorful balloons saying 'Welcome'. Well, he really did hope that this will be done and over with soon.

Ok, now Karin was certainly feeling nervous. She got out of the train and after looking around for a while she saw the escalator going upwards. "_Ok, let's go, Karin, let's go!_" she muttered to herself and got on the escalator with deep inhale. The stairs moved slowly up and up, and she was tiptoeing to see over heads of the people in front of her. She saw the big transparent saying 'Kurosaki Karin' and visibly paled at the sight of her new "family" – now this is gonna be fun.

Suddenly his aunt started waving. Toshiro's teal eyes widened to the size of smaller saucers when he saw the person Retsu was waving at. The one somehow nervously waiving back at them was a petite raven haired girl in baggy clothes showing all signs of twelve hour flight. His mind went blank; the only thing getting through was 'I am going to kill Rangiku!'

"Hi!" said Karin with slight accent. "I am Kurosaki Karin."

Her dark eyes focused on the two people in front of her and she managed to muster weak smile. The woman with nice dark brown hair tied in long braid that looked to be in her late thirties smiled brightly as she started talking.

"Hello Karin, it is very nice to meet you, I am Retsu – I will be taking care of you - and this here is my nephew Toshiro. I am sure you had very tiring journey, my, you are flying all the way from Tokyo..." Retsu started talking, at a rate that left Karin wondering, whether she actually still spoke English or switched to some entirely different alien language.  
"Aunt Retsu, don't freak her out." the tall boy said calmly and Karin couldn't help but to feel a little grateful towards him. "Oh, right, I am sorry sweetheart; I am talking way too fast." Retsu apologized with a smile. "That is fine, I think we are all, eh.." 'oh, crap, what am I trying to say?' "enthusiastic, right now." said Karin, in her attempt to reassure her new host mom. Kind of awkward silence settled in after Karin's last sentence, making her worried whether she said something inappropriate. Oh snap, she was never any good at this 'getting to know new people' business – that had always been Yuzu's area of expertise. Well, she would just have to make do somehow...

"So, what does your bag look like?" asked the boy as they made their way to baggage claim. _What was his name again? _  
"Well, eh, it's a trunk – a huge blue trunk and it has black bandana tied to the handle." replied Karin while making gestures with her hands, trying to demonstrate the proportions of her baggage.  
"Oh, I think I see it!" Retsu exclaimed, "no, wait, it has no bandana, never mind."  
They concentrated on the carousel for a while before Karin finally spotted the bag and made a beeline for it. She cut through the crowd and attempted to retrieve the trunk, however, it stayed faithful to its previous evil ways (A/N: remember in chapter 1?). After Karin managed to remove it from the carousel, the unexpected weight made het tumble backwards in what would make for one painful fall. _'F**k' _Karin thought as she braced herself for the fall – but funnily enough, it never came. She felt peculiar pull upwards and she was about to freak out (no trunk pulls itself up to float midair, they just don't) when she realized that Retsu's nephew was, in fact, holding her trunk up. She let go of it quickly, in order to lessen the weight that he was holding, but the move was not very thoughtful, as the trunk was the only thing keeping her from falling. And fall she did, ungracefully plopping down, she ended in a messy pile on the ground. Boy standing directly above her, holding her luggage in air, raised his eyebrows in amused look and she could swear she even heard him giggle a bit.

"My, my, be careful Karin, we wouldn't want you to get hurt your very first day!" Said Retsu who just caught up to the couple of teenagers.  
"I am sorry, I just, well, I .." Karin didn't really know what to say so she just hurriedly stood up and smoothed her clothes, faint blush of embarrassment and annoyance present on her pale cheeks. This is definitely not starting out the way she imagined.  
"Ok, we have the girl, we have the bag, we can go home." said the boy and Retsu glared at him.

It was such a hustle, in Toshiro's point of view, at least. Why did they have to get an exchange student, again? Yeah, because Retsu is on the all-time biggest happy hype and he was not one to destroy his aunt's happiness. First thing, she could actually be pretty scary, and yea, he kinda liked her, being family and all. Well, but this was surely gonna be trouble. For God's sake, he didn't even know how to handle Rangiku half of the time and now there was a full time inhabitant of his house who was teenager, a very girl teenager. He grunted and a steady scowl appeared on his face. He looked to his right where the said girl was sitting, looking wide eyed as the rays of setting sun graced the endless prairies that were the transition between Denver up in Rockies and their hometown in the middle of nowhere, Kansas. It was quite usual sight for him, but for her, he supposed, it had to look kind of amazing. He did not even notice a small smile that crept up to his features as he watched the curious girl...

When Karin finally managed to unglue her sight from the window, she realized that the boy, Toshiro, was soundly asleep. She resisted the urge to laugh as she studied his sleeping face. He looked less intimidating when he was sleeping, she decided. His hair was so blond that it appeared white to her and his closed eyes were framed with freakishly long white eyelashes. He was tan and she could see that he had quite a nice built on top of being tall. _'Stop the drooling, you idiot, he is technically a family!' _Karin scolded herself inwardly. _'Gotta avert attention, fast.' _  
"This country is really amazing, it is so huge!" Karin exclaimed softly in attempt to make a small-talk with Retsu – as she decided talking was surest way to keep her mind off certain napping guy.  
"Oh, well, I suppose. It doesn't amaze me no more, you just get used to it after some time." Retsu said with faint smile as she looked at Karin in the rearview mirror, "but tell me, Karin, how is it different from back home? We got you here without even talking much, so tell me something about you."  
And so Karin started describing – her family, her friends, her town and everything that come to her mind. She didn't even notice the scenery go by as they neared their destination.

Toshiro was dreaming. He was having a pleasant dream about country covered in forests, hills and lakes and he was sitting on the top of big white dragon flying over .. "Toshiro, ehm, please, Toshiro..." Now that voice definitely did not belong to his dream. He waved his hand in order to shoo the irritable distraction, but collided with something soft, a person, maybe? "Baka_._" Now this word was so not from his dream, what the hell was going on? He didn't have time to contemplate further as he felt somehow painful pinch to his arm.  
"OUCH! What was that for Rangi.." he woke up with snap, stopping short in his attempt to maim his cousin when he realized that the person in front of him was in fact, not his cousin. He was staring into dark blue eyes of some random girl. 'What the? Ah, yea, the exchange girl'_. _"I am sorry, Retsu told me to wake you up – I didn't want to hurt you, you just wouldn't wake no matter what I did." she apologized and moved out of the car with lightning speed in obvious attempt to get out of his comfort zone. "Doesn't matter, he mumbled, "just thought you were someone else." But he noticed the words were probably lost on her, as she was already moving out of garage with her oversized trunk hopping unsteadily after her.

"_What's wrong with that guy, didn't have to shout at me just for waking him up.._" Karin muttered under her breath.  
"Karin, is it you? Did you wake that sleepy head? Never mind him, he is always grumpy when he wakes up." sounded Retsu's voice from somewhere inside the house. Kitchen, maybe? And what in the world was 'grumpy' supposed to mean? Karin sighted. This was very different from home. But she would have to get used to it, the sooner, the better...

* * *

Hi there! I am glad to see some people actually followed my story (QwQ)

I made this chapter longer than usual, think of it as a double chapter :D and as usual I'd be glad to hear any suggestions or such *w*

There's not much to say to this chapter, maybe I should say that terms such as host brother/host mother/host family are commonly used for the people who are taking care of the exchange student (Retsu, Toshiro, etc.)

Oh, and also, if any of you had any **ideas **for the local school team and mascot names that'd be really awesome.

read & review


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks a lot to ickaser, AnimeXMangaAddict, forever122 and Red Pineapple21 for the reviews (and all of you who faved this story too)  
QwQ you made me soo happy **

and as per usual:  
"... talking ..."  
"..._talking in japanese ..._"  
'... thinking ...'

* * *

**chapter 4**

_This was very different from home. But she would have to get used to it, the sooner, the better..._

Toshiro Hitsugaya was not a happy camper. In fact, he was extremely unhappy. This fact could be blamed on several things. Firstly, it was Saturday, and nine in the morning at that, which, by his standards, was definitely way too early to be up. Secondly, he was awakened by a shrill voice of one and only Rangiku Matsumoto accompanied by all of his other beloved 'cousins', and for the size of this godforsaken town, that was way too many girls for him to handle. Well and thirdly, there was a girl sleeping in a room next to his.  
Yes, Toshiro thought grimly, today was definitely not going to be his day.

Karin Kurosaki was, in fact, not that happy either. She was sitting in her bed, freshly awoken, with quite a severe jet lag. And, as she just found out, also surrounded by rather large gathering of unfamiliar teenage girls.

"Hi Karin," sounded a vaguely familiar voice from the door and after she focused her blurry sight, she recognized its owner as Retsu, "These girls are my nieces and they were all so eager to meet you – I am sorry for waking you up."

"It's all right Retsu" Karin replied with a yawn as she explored the people in her room. There were five girls; three blondes and two dark haired ones. Confident looking curvy blond stepped closer to her bed and then, sooner than Karin could react, launched herself and literally glomped her.

"You are soo adorable, I knew we picked us a good one!" she squealed in delight, leaving Karin extremely baffled. "Ehm.." Karin started awkwardly.

"Ah, sorry hun, I am Rangiku and these two are my sisters, Isane and Kyone." she said pointing to small grinning blonde in the corner and calm looking tall girl with blond hair almost as light as Toshiro's. Girls nodded and smiled upon being addressed. "Other two are Rukia and Momo," she continued fluently, "well, what are you waiting for Karin, get dressed, there are lot of things we've got to do!"

Karin got dressed slowly and then took a hurricane of questions in the living room. "Where are you from?" "What is it like in Japan?" "Do you like it here?" "What classes are you taking?" ... She was totally lost. Fortunately, Retsu saved her. "Girls, girls, you are confusing her. She cannot answer you when you are talking all at once." older woman stated calmly, but her smiling face held the scary undertone that made Rangiku and the rest quiet down considerably. "Besides, I am sure there will be a plenty of time to ask her all those questions once she is settled and her jet lag's gone – Karin dear, you sure you don't want to go back to bed?"

Karin noticed the last part was addressed to her, but she stopped listening halfway so she just shook her head, hoping for the best. "Well, ok," Retsu continued, not sure whether the girl understood or not, "what about you girls leave Karin to unpack first and get to know the place, she only came yesterday night afterall – then if she feels up to it, I'll tell Toshiro to bring her over to Ran's place later." Karin could see that this was not in least a plan girls would like, but hesitantly, they nodded and all stood up to leave. "Nice meeting you Karin, be sure to come as soon as you're rested!" small blonde girl whose name she couldn't quite remember said and then all the girls left, save for busty blonde still contently sitting on the couch. "Ran, haven't you heard me?" asked Retsu, her voice still calm, but her eyes making an expression that would send weaker men running. "Auntie Retsu, I'll help her unpack and 'sides, she will need to go shopping for school stuff, I am sure." girl addressed as Ran replied, grinning. "I don't mind Retsu, really, I think I can use some help." Karin finally managed and before long, she was being dragged back to her room. Tall blond seated her onto the bed and began unpacking her trunk, making nice bubbly small talk in the mean time. Every time Karin tried to help her, she somehow got her back to the very position in which she started and so, soon, the poor Kurosaki gave up and just watched as Ran orderly stacked all of her things into the big wardrobe.

"Wow, Karin, you play soccer?" Ran asked as she unpacked the trademark black and white ball.

"Soccer? Ah, you mean football? Yes, I do – I am captain of my school team. Well, I was." Karin said gingerly, remembering her teammates and how she would not be able to see them for one whole year.

"That is so awesome, you are cool!" Ran said and then continued on the sport track, explaining to Karin what sports were available at the local school. Karin, who slept less than two hours the previous night, had hard time keeping up with all the talking, so she was quite happy when Ran finally emptied the trunk and stuffed it underneath the bed. Karin thought that she would finally be able to get the well deserved sleep, oh, how sadly mistaken she was...

Toshiro would have felt bad for the girl, being dragged all around the Wal-Mart by the crazy lunatic Rangiku doubtlessly was. He would have felt sorry for her, had it not been for the miniscule detail that he was, in fact, stuck in the Wal-Mart too. He grunted. He observed the petite girl next to him as she talked to his cousin, trying to persuade her of something.

"Rangiku, I hate shopping, I really do and I have all the things I need, can we please go home now?" Karin finally asked, and Toshiro noticed that the dark circles under her eyes somehow more pronounced than when they first came in the building.

"Oh, don't be such a spoil sport Karin, dear," Rangiku giggled, but then she also noticed how tired the short girl looked. She sighed, defeated. "Ok, while I love shopping, I think I like the idea of my new foreigner surviving her first day in town better, so I guess you win for now, let's pay and go home." she finished with smile and started dragging Karin towards the tills.

Unfortunately universe had grander plans for the trio and Rangiku spotted a friend of hers that she just had to greet, leaving Toshiro and Karin all alone by the big sacks of dog food. Karin sat down on one of the packs, supporting her head on her hands and looking longingly at an aisle in which busty blond disappeared just a minute ago.

"We can go pay and wait for Ran in the car." Toshiro said, after a while of somehow odd silence.

"We could have, but unfortunately your cousin seized my wallet." Karin said dejectedly and looked at white haired boy. "Oh well," Toshiro trailed off and proceeded with looking grudgingly over the aisles full of people.

"Oh, I am sorry it took me so long guys but..." Rangiku never got to finish her sentence, noticing that Toshiro was making a hushing gesture. She raised her eyebrows quizzically, before she noticed that the poor exchange girl was out cold, sleeping on the sack of pork dog food. Ran started laughing, but Toshiro's glare stopped her. "This is entirely your fault, you know that?"

...

A/N: so, I hope you like it :) any reviews are much welcomed ^w^ Also, if anyone's interested, Toshiro's uncle (and Retsu's husband) is making an appearance in the next chapter :D bwahaha

And btw I still need tha name for school sports team and mascot so if you had any ideas, that'd be neat c:


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: ** I wrote really much today, so I figured I may as well post one more chapter, just because I like you guys so much and because **forever122** and a wonderful** guest** (who posted several reviewes) made me really happy QwQ

again, my spellcheck died and was replaced by blind senile russian cat-lady

also:

"..." speaking or such

'...' thinking or such

*italics* Karin speaking in Japanese

And I really **really** need a name for the town school sport's team and mascot so please help me out guys :) any suggestions help ^w^

...

**chapter 5 **

"Remind me, please, Rangiku," white haired guy scowled irritably from the back seat of the car, "how come you forgot to mention the fact that the exchange kid is a girl?"

'Here it comes.' Rangiku thought, smiling at her cousin in the rearview mirror. "Toshiro, come on now, we both know..." Rangiku stopped and started giggling.

"What's so funny?" Toshiro growled, growing more irritated yet. Then he noticed the light weight settling onto his shoulder and the touch of pink settled on his cheeks. "Rangiku!" He bellowed in that kind of a loud whisper you use when you want to yell but can't. But seeing his facial expression only made his cousin laugh harder.

When Karin awoke in her bed, to say she was startled would be an understatement. "_What the..?!_" came out of her on impulse, before she stopped herself. 'Think Karin!' she thought. She remembered being in the shop with Ran and the white haired guy... what was his name again? 'Great, you don't even remember your host brother's name now?' She shook her head. 'Toshiro, right, his name was Toshiro.' Then she looked out of the window - the sun was almost setting. "_I wonder how did I get back..._" she muttered under her breath.

"Do you talk to yourself often?" cold voice asked from the doorway - if Karin knew better, she'd have heard the underlying humor in it. She whipped her head towards the door and stared, mesmerized. The rays of setting sun that shone through the big windows of her room set on the tall figure, making his hair appear even whiter and his teal eyes shine in an unnatural way. Karin's mind went blank - it was really unusual sight. 'Wait,' her mind kicked in, 'didn't he ask something?'

"I, ehm,.." yes, very intelligent of you Kurosaki, you sound really coherent.

"What time is it?" she tried rather lamely after gathering her sleepy wits.

"It'll be eight soon." Toshiro answered, looking at the raven haired girl strangely. "Aunt Retsu told me to wake you up, some of our family came to see you. And, if you want there to be any food left, you better hurry," he said, exiting her room.

Karin watched him walk away, perplexed. This was the longest speech she heard from him yet, so she was a little amazed. Wait. How big exactly _is_ their family? She only met her new host mom Retsu, Toshiro and Rangiku - but a nagging feeling in her gut as well as the noise comming from the living room told her that there would be a lot more new people to meet. BUt first, she needed to get out of the bed.

Karin sighed. She climbed out of the comfy bed looking around her new room. It was simple, but really pretty. The walls were painted radiant blue, a clue to the previous owner being a boy. Floor was covered with fluffy cream colored carpet and most of the room was occupied by rather large bed. 'Bed!' Karin's mind thought fondly, but she quickly abandoned the thought, courtesy of her rumbling stomach. Karin stood in front of a built-in closet which took up majority of the shortest wall of her room. She admired the reflection of sunlight on the dark wood for a while, still a little dazed from her sleep. Slowly, she slid the closet open, revealing shelves that held her clothing and other belongings. She dug through the neatly folded piles, thinking about her first day - and how she slept through the most of it.

Karin exchanged the shirt she slept in for a clean one and then headed out of her room, hoping some of the promisingly smelling food was still in the kitchen.

Her eyes went wide in surprise when she saw the living room full of people. Definitely more than she expected.

"Hi Karin! I am so glad you are finally up." Retsu said softly, smiling a 1000 watt smile and coming towards the exchange student.

"Eh, I'd say good morning, but, well, I think I am in a wrong time zone for that." Karin attempted to joke. Whether out of courtesy or out of genuine humor, Retsu laughed ushering Karin into the kitchen to grab some food.

"Let's get you something to eat, then I'll introduce you," Retsu said piling humongous amounts of food on Karin's plate.

Short girl examined the plate seeing a compilation of many unknown substances. She arched her eyebrows quizzically, looking up at her host mom.

"That's just roast beef, dear, with mashed potatoes and some greens," Retsu explained, getting Karin's non-verbal question. "Try it out!" older woman smiled, pushing the small ravenette into the living room, sitting her at the table full of unfamiliar faces.

Karin set her plate down, and with perfect timing as well, because next thing she knew she was almost swept off her feet by a glomp delivered by none other than Rangiku Matsumoto.

"Ran, let me go," Karin deadpanned, gaining a round of laughter from the table.

"Aww, don't be such a spoilsport!" Ran whined, going all puppy-dog eyed on the small Japanese girl. Karin groaned inwardly. This was going to be a long night.

After Ran decided Karin had enough hugging (read torture) Retsu stepped in to do the introductions.

"This here is my husband, Juushiro," she said, setting her hands on shoulders of tall man with kind eyes and hair as white as Toshiro. "Next to him is Kyoraku Shunsui, an old family friend, with his wife, my sister Nanao," dark haired man in flower-patterned hawaiian shirt smiled a goofy smile and nodded his bearded head as Retsu said his name. The lady next to him that looked like particularly stern librarian nodded as well, but was more occupied trying to pry a beer can out of her husband's hands, saying something alongside the lines of 'you've had quite enough Shun'. The scene made Karin snort with laughter.

Moving her sight down the round table, away from the couple, she saw familiar faces of Ran's sisters. "You've already met Rangiku's sisters Kyone and Isane," Retsu motioned towards the two blond girls, "And that next to them is their mom - Juushiro's sister - Kirio," the chubby, but friendly looking blond woman smiled at Karin. "And of course, you know Toshiro."

"Now finish eating and Ran will introduce you to the rest of the kids," Retsu finished warmly.

Karin met Toshiro's mildly amused look before digging into the deliciously smelling food on her plate. Her head was starting to spin from all the names and faces, but at the same time, the curious side of her persona started to try picking up the stranger's faces, habits and personalities. Juushiro, her host father, was talking to her jovially as she ate, explaining some things about the town, the school she will be going to and the family she was, as of now, supposed to be part of.

And for the first time since she boarded the plane, Karin felt the anxiety wanish and to be replaced by genuine curiosity and warm, bubbly happiness.

...

hope you liked it :) also... well, the families may be a little confusing, but you'll pick it up as the story progresses (or so I hope)


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **neeext chapteerrhope you like it :) also, I'll post next one sometime this weekend

"... talking ..."  
"..._ talking in japanese ..._"  
'... thinking ...'

* * *

**_Chapter 6_**

_And for the first time since she boarded the plane, Karin felt the anxiety vanish to be replaced by genuine curiosity and warm, bubbly happiness. _

...

Toshiro observed the room with mild interest. The football game was blurring in the background with no hope to overpower the loud murmur in the room.

The exchange girl was sitting there on the carpet in the middle of the room, surrounded by his cousins and some other town kids, looking rather like a trapped animal.

Toshiro smirked as he watched small girl's feeble attempts to call it a night and go back to her room. She was being showered with questions and conversations he wasn't quite sure she could comprehend or handle. After watching the scene for a while he decided to help her.

"Hey Ran, the exchange kid looks about ready to drop. Remember walmart?" He said loudly over the noise, making Karin frown at the memory and Rangiku squirm guiltily.

"Besides, she'll never get over the jet lag if you don't let her sleep during the night." he added nonchalantly, focusing his sight on the japanese girl.

"You are right Shiro! We are going to the lake tomorrow, she needs her rest, don't you Karin?"

Karin just nodded absent-mindedly and gave Toshiro a thankful look.

After this conversation, kids decided to call it a night, saying their goodbyes and scattering to their respective homes...

Karin was really happy. Tired, but happy. 'Kami, there is no way I get to normal sleeping schedule in this house.' she thought to herself as she sat at her large bed. She turned on her laptop and wrote short message to Yuzu, assuring her that all was going well and she was having awesome time.

After she closed her laptop, she slowly made her way to the bathroom.

When Toshiro entered as well, to take a shower before going to sleep - clad only in his shorts, mind you - he was quite surprised to find Karin there, brushing her teeth. His surprise grew exponentially after he realized she didn't even squirm seeing him there.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were here." he said coolly.

"'S ok. I.. how do you say it... I don't matter." Karin managed to say with mouthful of toothpaste. She furrowed her brow - she had the feeling that was not exactly what she meant to say. "I mean, I don't mind it..you!" She started to correct herself, stuttering and then frowning after she saw Toshiro's amused expression.

"Whatever," he said, stepping closer to Karin, reaching for his own toothbrush.

Karin was really glad she was just flossing, because otherwise there was no way he'd miss the blush that crept up to her face at the proximity.

'Come on Kurosaki, it's just a guy!' she gave herself a mental kick. Never the less, she quickly put her toothbrush away and fled the bathroom, missing the grin that spread over Toshiro's face.

'I may not like this foreign exchange student idea,' he mused, 'but maybe... it won't be that bad afterall'

...

Next morning Karin awoke quite early. She noted, with dissapointment, that it was not at all her intention to wake quite yet. The reason for her rousing was a rather peculiar feeling of something big jumping onto her bed. She yawned, and opened her eyes, only to close them in the instant.

'Please, tell me this is some odd dream,' she prayed to whatever god was on the hot-line that day.

"Karin, you are uuuuuup!" squealed a voice from behind her closed eyelids. Apparently, gods were not in her favour today.

"Rangiku, what are you doing on my bed?" Karin asked flatly, still refusing to open her eyes.

"I just came to wake you up," busty blond giggled in delight, "we are going to the lake!"

Karin pried her eyes open, looking at the huge smile Ran was giving her. Oh sweet tofu, this was going to be one long day. Karin sighed.

Her room was filled with warm orange glow of sunlight, clue to the fact that it was barely seven, at best.

"Why did you have to wake me up so soon?" Karin grumbled, not liking the fact at all.

"Well, sleepyhead, it takes some time to get to the lake! You better start getting ready! We leave in about half an hour." the bubbly girl exclaimed, bouncing off of Karin's bed and skipping out of her room. "I am off to wake Toshiro."

'And good luck with that,' Karin thought smirking, remembering her first attempt at waking her grumpy host brother.

...

"Rangiku, if this is some kind of joke," deep voice growled from under the covers, "then I suggest you quit it before I get up from this bed and kill you in a _very_ painful way."

A round of ringing laughter was the only answer to Toshiro's threats.

"Ah, come on, Shiro-pooh. Retsu send me to wake you up!" Rangiku cooed and started giggling after she saw the tall white haired teen turn gruffly in his bed while covering his head with the pillow.

"Don't call me Shiro-pooh!" He howled and then laid flat, fully intending on resuming his slumber. Little did he expect his hyperactive cousin to pounce on him.

"Rangiku," Toshiro growled, "Get off me!"

Ran sprung away from her cousin and his attempts to strangle her, grinning like a madman. "Glad you are up cousin, we are leaving in half an hour." she called over her shoulder as she exited the room.

"Thank you for waking them up, dear," Retsu said from the kitchen. Rangiku just nodded and smiled, plopping down on the kitchen chair.

"No prob, Auntie Retsu. I am glad to help - it's our turn to organize bonfire this year, therefore I am kinda happy to be out of the house. Mom is going ballistic with the food preparation, I think we will be finishing those leftovers until Christmas."

Retsu just laughed.

...

Karin stumbled out of the bed and around her room sleepily, getting ready. As she was having breakfast Retsu started explaining:

"We are going to head out of the town to the nearby lake. It's a custom, you may call it a summer festival, we do it each year before the school starts. Lot of our friends come too, we swim, play games, and have a bonfire."

Karin nodded her head. She was used to summer festivals, but this was going to be something different.

"Retsu?! Have you seen my swimsuit?" Toshiro's voice carried through the house.

"Yea, I washed it yesterday, wait a minute," Retsu yelled back and looked at Karin, who just finished washing the bowl of cereals she used.

"Karin, sweety, would you carry this to Shiro?" Retsu said, putting a gray swimsuit with teal pattern on the table, "I've got to go pack some things before we leave."

"Sure," Karin said, grabbing the piece of clothing.

She knocked on the door only to have it thrown open to half naked Toshiro.

"I.. was expecting Retsu." he said, trying to suppress his surprise.

"That's fine," Karin said, turning on her heel. "I have older brother, nothing I haven't seen before." she added, trying to sound as unfazed as possible.

'Yea, right, totally used to it' Karin thought, thinking back at the sight of shirtless Toshiro, trying hard not to blush beet red, 'smooth Kurosaki, very smooth.'

Karin returned to her room and quickly packed, wondering momentarily where did Rangiku go.

Just as that thought flashed in her mind, she felt something stir behind her and she stepped to the side just in time to escape on of Rangiku's famous glomps.

'Oh yeah! I am getting better at this!' Karin thought as she grinned down at Ran, now sitting at the carpeted floor with a pout.

"I just came to tell you it's time to go Karin," Ran said happily - seemingly recovering from her pouty sad state.

Karin grabbed her duffle bag and followed Ran out of her room.

"Retsu? Do you need help with anything?" Karin yelled out because she couldn't see her host mother anywhere.

"No, it's ok, Shiro already carried all of the stuff into car. Just load up girls, we'll be leaving any minute now!"

"Will do auntie Retsu!" Rangiku yelled before Karin had a chance.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Aaand another chapter :) tell me what you think *w* Next chapter on wednesday - unless there is a major motivation (reviews, guys, reviews - I live for them :D)

Thanks to **KuronekoHimeSama **and **Forever122 **for reviewing :) you made my day :D

Reply to all of you asking about soccer: there may be some, eventually, but guys Karin is in boondocks, America, and believe me there's not much soccer going on in places like that :D

Also, just to warn you - it may feel like this fic is going a little bit slow at the beginning, but I feel like it is more realistic to see the relationships build up and such, not having two people meet one day and then kiss each other senseless the next day... you were warned:D but no worries I promise there **will be** some action, eventually :D

As usual:  
"... talking ..."  
"..._ talking in japanese ..._"  
'... thinking ...'

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Karin wondered in what universe was a three hour car ride definition of 'close by' but decided not to comment on it. She was desperately trying not to fall asleep as Ran inched closer to breaking a guinness record in words per minute. Karin did not understand much, but gathered that the blond was attempting to fill her in on all the latest gossip in town. However, all that information was pretty much lost on the Japanese girl who not only didn't know half the people tall blonde was talking about but also never really cared much about gossip.

"How come you are driving with us, Ran?" Karin asked all of the sudden, interrupting Rangiku mid rant.

"Have you even heard a word of what I was saying?" blond asked, exasperated.

"Of course I did, but I don't really know who either Nemu or Renji are, and while I don't know what 'hitting it of' means, it sounds a little painful." Karin stated flatly, much to Rangiku's dismay.

Toshiro's cough from the front seat sounded suspiciously close to laugher. Ran slapped him over the head before turning back to Karin and explaining.

"I hitched a ride with you guys, because you have more space - I mean, I don't exactly fancy being stuck in the back seat with sleeping Kyone and Isane." Ran explained, examining her fingernails. "And since uncle Juushiro ain't going I figured you wouldn't mind. You are a lot more fun to ride with, even with Tosh being stick in the mud."

Karin inclined her head to the side at what Rangiku said and then giggled. "Stick in a mud? Is Toshiro dirty?" she asked, making both Ran and Retsu erupt into laughter. Karin frowned. Toshiro groaned. "Cut the girl some slack. Karin what Ranguku said is an idiom. She was rather lamely implying that I am too serious,_ not_ that I am muddy." he explained, leaving Karin thinking (rather sourly) that english is very very weird language. 'And what is idiom, anyway?'

Rangiku's laughter didn't stop until they pulled over at large parking lot near the camping area at the lake.

As they got out of the car Karin watched with glee as Ran ended up, for once, at the receiving end of a glomp attack. The person delivering it was a tall, lanky, silver haired guy with a disturbing smile on his thin face.

"If this guy is whom Rangiku picked up the pouncing from, then I don't like him already," Karin commented offhandedly, gaining a round of laughter from her host brother.

"Just hold on to that thought," Toshiro commented of-handedly as he took a cooler out of the car trunk and headed after Retsu, away from the parking area.

"So Ran-Ran, is this Retsu's new foreigner?" Tall, silver-haired boy asked, looking at Karin with curiosity - or what Karin guessed to be curiosity - however, with that creepy smile of his it was not easy to tell. He swung his arm over Karin's shoulder, grinning.

"Yes, that's Karin." Rangiku huffed. "Karin, this goof's name is Gin Ichimaru. You can call him Gin, or retard - he answers to both."

Karin laughed as Gin raised his hands as if giving up and whined: "Ran, you're ruining my reputation!"

"You wish you had any," Rangiku said harshly, and steering Karin by her shoulders left towards the camping area, the strange boy introduced as Gin following shortly behind them.

...

As they came closer Karin looked around the camping area. It was a nice place, she decided. The large meadows surrounded the lake before subsiding to more grassy and dryer terrain that led up to the nearby hills. Warm sunlight was shining through the trees scattered around the meadow, providing both enough shade to rest in, and enough sunny areas for sunbathing. The lakeshore was stony, but the glittering water looked clean and welcoming. There were several benches and camping tables, all occupied by people. And judging by the enthusiastic waves Rangiku aimed their direction, all of those people were someone Karin was supposed to know.

She sighed and threw a longing glance towards few blankets in shade.

"Come on Karin, we can go help my mom unpack." Rangiku said cheerfully, dragging uncertain Karin behind her. However, and much to Karin's surprise, Toshiro stopped her.

"Or you can go do your work while Karin helps with her own stuff." Toshiro stated, seeing through Rangiku's scheme of ditching some of her own work in favor of unsuspecting foreigner.

"No fun, cousin!" Rangiku pouted, but listened to him anyhow. She waved Karin bye and skipped away to the table where her mother and sister were unpacking.

"So what do you, ehm, need help with?" Karin asked, still not entirely confident in her sentence composition.

"Nothing, actually," Toshiro said looking down at the small japanese, "I just wanted Ran to do her own work for once."

Karin looked over to where sour looking Ran with hands full of barbecue instruments and laughed.

"Thanks, I think." Karin said.

Together, they headed towards the table where Retsu sat. Toshiro set the cooler down in front of her and was about to go hide out in some remote shady area, when his aunt's voice stopped him.

"Shiro, why don't you show Karin around a little?"

He barely suppressed a groan. "Whatever."

Teal eyes looked at Karin as he said: "Follow me."

She just nodded and hurried to match his longer strides.

"Say Toshiro - what class are you in?" Karin asked in attempt to start conversation.

"Junior - that's third grade." He answered simply.

Karin's eyebrow twitched.

"The school starts next week right?" Karin tried again.

"Yes." Toshiro answered shortly.

Karin groaned. He wasn't making it any easier to talk to him.

"Are you looking forward to it?" she asked again.

"Hn.." was his only reply.

"You don't talk much, do you?" she asked, frowning.

Toshiro looked down at the frowning girl, finding her facial expression really amusing for some reason.

"No I don't," he said. 'Not to the strangers, I don't,' was what he thought, but did not say aloud.

"Does that bother you?" he asked after a while.

Karin, a little unsure if she remembered right what bother means remained silent for a while, before she replied: "No, when I want talkative, I can always go to Rangiku, right?"

Toshiro looked down at her, smirk creeping up into his features. 'That's right,' he thought as they walked on in silence.

"Say, you should be showing me around, so where are we going now?" Karin asked, after the silence got boring.

"Well I am going to the car, grab a blanket and lie down somewhere cool." Toshiro said calmly.

Karin continued walking for a minute before what he'd just said got to her.

"Wait, what?" she asked, turning towards the tall boy.

"You can come with me or go wander around on your own." he said, smug smirk intact on his face. He usually listened to his aunt, yes, but this time for some reason he felt like teasing the new girl a bit. And if he were right, she would be as keen to get away from the hustle and nap as he was.

Karin mock-glared at him: "Real nice of you."

"Well, you can grab a blanket and find a place to take a nap as well," Toshiro offered, and watching the facial expression of the smaller girl, he knew that he won on this idea.

"Now that plan is much better," Karin said, her face lightening up at the prospect of sleep.

"And who knows, you may not be that bad afterall." she smiled a bright toothy grin, bumping her fist into Toshiro's shoulder and continuing happily down the path. The teal eyes widened, watching her back.

'Interesting...'

...

"Toshiro Hitsugaya!"

Ok, while he was nowhere near easily scared, this voice was not a good sign.

"Don't pretend you are asleep! You were supposed to show her around, not leave her napping under the nearest tree!"

Yes, this was definitely his aunt. And pissed off one, at that.

He cracked his teal eyes open and groaned. The shade he slept in before diminished, leaving him out in the open sun.

"We both had the same idea, what can I say," Toshiro tried with an attempt on apologetic smile.

"Don't try that on me, young man!" Retsu said, her tone of voice still not above the normal, but with glare that left a cold chill running down Shiro's spine. Why were all the women in his family so scary, again?

Meanwhile Rangiku, who finally managed to escape her mother, spotted Karin dozing under the tree.

"_Yuzu stop that!_" Karin muttered under her breath, making the busty blond giggle.

Karin stirred. That giggle was most definitely not part of her dream.

She sit up just in time to death glare Rangiku, who looked about ready to pounce at her as a wake up call. "Don't even think about it!" Karin warned, standing up. Rangiku just grinned.

"Well, girls are dying to meet you! Come on, come with me." she said in a bubbly tone, dragging Karin along. As they exited Karin's little shadowy hiding place, two girls saw Retsu lecturing Toshiro, who looked like he was not entirely awake yet.

"Hey Toshiro," Karin shouted, waving him over, in attempt to save him the lecture, "come here!"

The tall boy got up with surprising speed and before Retsu could say anything, he was halfway across the meadow, heading towards the girl. Smooth escape...


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **whohoo :D 4 reviews, ok, I am happy :D and when I happy I write... and when I write I post too - so here you go guys! I guess this chapter is my personal favorite so far, so I'd love to hear what you think

Thanks to **forever122**, **Kuronekohimesama**, **Mic-RNOL-Mik** and **finchyyy **for reviewing and suggestions - you rock!

Also, **forever122 **was kind enough to point this out to me, so to clarify any confusions: Toshiro is in third grade as in third year of high school /which in american grade system would be 12th grade/ I am using first, second, third and fourth grade/year instead of 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th mainly because when people are not calling it freshmen, sophomore etc. they are explaining to Karin what grade it is and since in Japan they don't have middle school and high school grades counted together, I figured it would be better like this. (I really hope i did not confuse you more by this explanation)

and as usual:  
"...talking..."  
"..._talking in japanese_..."  
'...thinking...'

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Being at the lake was really nice, Karin decided. You could go for a swim anytime, nap or bask in the sun when you felt like it and the food - ah, the food. She didn't even mind being crowded by all the unfamiliar people, after all, it must be refreshing to finally get to know someone other than the same old kids you grew up with.  
Karin was slowly learning all the names and faces, accustoming herself to the fast flow of informal english.

But some words just did not make any sense to her.

"Rangiku, what is louel?" Karin asked, perplexed, interrupting the conversation of busty blond and a dark haired girl introduced as Momo. The two girls looked at her questioningly.

"Come again?" Momo told Karin.

"You've said it moment ago," Karin persisted, " -louel- "

Both girls started laughing. "You mean L.O.L?" they asked in unison.

Karin nodded, not seeing the difference between what she said and what girls did.

Rangiku grabbed a stick and scribbled letters L O and L down on the sandy ground that surrounded the bonfire. Seeing the letters Karin had to suppress urge to facepalm.

"Stupid question, I get it now," she laughed too. "English is crazy."

The two american teens continued laughing.

"Bet it is." Ranguku said. "But to more important matters," she started with a look on her face, that, even tho' Karin did not know her well yet, could not mean anything good, "what do you think Karin?"

Karin looked at the taller blond perplexed. "What do I think about what?" she asked, confused.

"The guys, obviously!" Rangiku and Momo squealed in unison.

Ah, someone must really be having fun at her expense, Karin was sure. Yuzu would just love it. But Karin should have expected it, really. Of course Ran would want to talk about guys.

"All the way there to the left is Kuchiki Byakuya," Rangiku started, "he is Rukia's brother in law. Little old, but still a looker."

"Ran!" Momo squealed, "he has a wife!" Karin resisted an urge to facepalm, once again, as she heard Rangiku say: "That's not a physical fault."

"Never mind her," Momo smiled. "Next, there is Renji - that's the red haired tall guy over there," Momo continued. Karin and Rangiku looked over at the same time. "Not all at once!" Momo hissed, giggling.

Karin felt a little stupid, but hell, she was a girl too, and if this was a good chance to get a look at the local hot guys, she was not the one to complain. Well, complain much.

"American football captain, over six feet and ah so sexy muscles," Rangiku continued dreamily.

"But..." Momo started, making Karin wonder what buts came with a guy like that. He was not really her type, but she had to admit he was a hottie.

"Yea, he's got this giant crush on Rukia," Rangiku said, sipping from a deep red liquid Karin found mildly disturbing. She looked over at Renji and saw him looking at the petite ravenette out the corner of his eye. That's one big 'but'.

"Continuing down the list," Rangiku picked up, "we cannot forget Hisagi."

"That's the dark haired one over there, playing with the little girl." Momo said, dreamily.

"Bad boy all the way, but still finds time to play with his siblings," Rangiku grinned. "That's one tall, dark and handsome I wouldn't mind having around."

Karin eyed the tall boy with interest. And the fact that he was running around in his swimsuit made girls' ogling a lot easier.

"Hmm." was Karin's only response, but two american teens took it as an encouragement to continue.

"Sophomores aren't bad either," Momo murmured, gaining a laugh from Rangiku. Karin didn't really know what sophomore ment, but she figured she'd find out sooner or later.

"You can see Starrk over there," Ran motioned her hand, "With his little sis' Lily - he is actually my age, but he had to repeat, he's native and their family moved a whole lot."

"Native what?" Karin asked perplexed, not all that interested in the long haired tan guy snoozing on the blanket. By the looks of it, his little sister was drawing stupid pictures on his face in a permanent maker.

"Native american, an indian." Momo explained, "but other second years are not here - I suppose you'll see them around sooner or later."

Karin just nodded. So junior was third year and sophomore second year... interesting. She'd better remember that.

"But talking hot guys you shouldn't forget Gin," Momo teased, poking Rangiku in the ribs.

Karin almost laughed at the facial expression that settled on blonde's face.

"Do not even go there!" Rangiku scowled.

"He is tall, not too hard on the eyes, plus he is funny," Momo tried. "You've got to admit he is kinda cute."

"Who is?" piped up an enthusiastic voice as a pair of pale hands circled Ran's figure from behind, enveloping her in a hug. Karin turned around to see the silver haired smiling lunatic.

"No one!" Rangiku growled uncharacteristically, trying to pry his arms off. "And get off me!"

"Aww, so cold, Ran-Ran." Gin said, smiling as he retreated his arms and plopped down in between Karin and the blond.

"So who are we talking about?" he asked, swirling his arm around Ran's waist. Karin winced at his bold actions, but apparently it was a normal occurrence, as Rangiku just glared at him but - what did not escape Karin's eyes - did nothing to rid herself of the offending appendage.

"Nothing we can talk about in front of you," Momo giggled, "a girl stuff!"

Gin opened his mouth and wailed in mock horror. "Oh no! In that case, ladies, excuse me." he said in an over-exaggerated manner.

"Go play with the kids, you big drama queen." Rangiku stated with annoyance, but Karin saw her tense up as Gin's hand left it's place around her waist.

"You hurt me, Ran," Gin laughed and walked away to join the other guys.

"Don't ever do that again, Momo!" Rangiku whined.

Karin did not understand why Momo erupted into laughter.

At exchange girl's confused look Momo clarified: "That guy has this strange superpower. Anytime you mention his name in front of Rangiku here, he appears out of nowhere, it's really funny."

Karin noticed, how Momo avoided Gin's name in her sentence.

"It's so not funny." Rangiku exclaimed. "It's creepy, really - this one time his whole family went to vacation to Montana and one day mom asked me about him - the second thing I know he is waving at me from behind the window."

Karin looked at the blond with the look of disbelief, while Momo toppled over with laughter.

"Turned out the weather was terrible, so they had to return early, but anyway, creepy!" Rangiku said.

"But enough about him. We still have someone left." she said grinning evilly.

Blush crept into Momo's cheeks which had Karin's attention to perk up.

"And who would that be?" Karin asked, curiosity getting better of her.

Rangiku just nonchalantly motioned towards the other end of the picnic area, where a tall figure was sprawled across the blanket.

Karin's eyes widened.

"Toshiro?"

Karin stared at Momo, eyes wide as saucers.

"Seriously, Toshiro? Isn't he your cousin?" she asked, incredulous.

"No silly," Ran started explaining as blushing Momo paled. "Momo is Retsu's niece, that's true, but since Retsu is Shiro's aunt only 'cause she married his uncle, Tosh and Momo aren't blood related. Most of the town's extended family, so we call everyone a cousin -really."

Karin tried to follow Ran's explanation of the family tree, but failed miserably.

"Besides, you gotta admit Toshiro's pretty cool." Rangiku wiggled her eyebrows.

Karin tried not to imagine him shirtless in the bathroom as she shook her head.

"I am not sure I should be saying anything like that - he is technically a family." she said.

Rangiku and Momo both laughed. "Come on, what good would it be to live with a hot guy for a whole year and not take advantage of it!"

"You two are strange," Karin said but joined them in the laughter anyway.

...

Some time later Karin was sitting in the shade of big tree, reading. Or so she was supposed to look like.  
What Kurosaki Karin was actually doing was far less innocent. See, she found herself a perfect vantage point. Perfect, really, for right in front of her in the lake small pink haired girl roped bunch of guys to play some strange water sport.  
So as to what Karin was really doing, well, it had to do with the fact that there were six shirtless (and pretty hot) guys right there, in front of her. And courtesy of her sunglasses she really hoped she would be able to enjoy this particular pastime for a while without being noticed if Lady Luck was favorable, only...

"Kariiiiiiiiin!" yelled the familiar voice, making Karin groan inwardly. Now her perfect position will be so totally wasted on her. Luck was such a bitch sometimes.

Karin dodged to the side right in time for Rangiku Matsumoto to launch herself across Karin's previous spot.

"Pfft," small laugh sounded from behind Rangiku, "you are surprisingly good at dodging Karin."

Karin nodded, grinning at the small black haired girl. Then she turned to the tall blond sprawled near her feet and said, tiredly:

"Rangiku, I'd really like you to stop trying to K.O. me."

But Rangiku just laughed.

"No fun!" she giggled as she straightened herself into sitting position.

"Say, Karin, dear, what are you up to, sitting here, all alone?" Rangiku asked, grinning like a cheshire cat.

"Reading," Karin said, quickly setting her book aside, when she noticed she was holding it upside down. She really hoped Rangiku did not notice.

"Sure you were." Tall blond grinned even wider.

"We brought you ice cream," dark haired girl piped up, as she, too, sat down next to Karin.

"Thanks a lot Momo," Karin said, and trying to avert discussion from her previous activities, she quickly added, "so what will we do now? Retsu mentioned some games, right?"

Rangiku laughed.

"Oh yea, we play them every year!" Momo said happily.

"We are divided into teams on random and play basketball, then we have a swimming competition, scavenger hunt and.. couple years ago we had sand castle competition, but since we are at the rocky part of the lake this year around, I guess we won't do that..." Momo said smiling enthusiastically.

"We have something to replace it this year, no worries." Rangiku said grinning rather evilly, in Karin's opinion. "And my team will win, I'll make sure of it," Ran added quietly, but her companions did not hear her.

"Oh, that sounds fun, actually!" Karin exclaimed. She slept some portion of the morning, thus she felt really energetic, plus, her competitive personality was getting better of her.

"When will it start?" Karin asked eagerly.

Momo looked over at Retsu and Kirio who were getting guys out of the water and said: "Any minute I think, we better go over to Retsu's table, I think she is in charge of games this year."

Karin was up before the two girls could blink.

"What are we waiting for, then?"


	9. Chapter 9

A/N : Hey Guyyyyys! I am so so sorry for the long hiatus, but my life sort of got in the way of the writing :( I had these big-ass tests and then the toughest writing block of them all hit me and well, here we are, 4 months later...

I hope some of you are still up to reading my story and I will try and get my updating schedule back on track ;)

Shout out of thanks goes to **Iloveyouthismuch21 **from tumblr, whose very very nice message got me motivated to speed up the writing of this chapter :D

Btw, the old blind senile Russian cat-lady that is my spell-check died recently and so I am looking for a** beta reader **anyone interested can message me :)

One more thing - a guest reviewer, whom I cannot contact in any way /I know he or she is Canadian though xD/ asked me about the grades again:

**forever122 **was kind enough to point this out to me before, so to clarify any confusions: Toshiro is in third grade as in third year of high school /which in american grade system would be 12th grade/ I am using first, second, third and fourth grade/year instead of 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th mainly because when people are not calling it freshmen, sophomore etc. they are explaining to Karin what grade it is and since in Japan and many other countries (mine included) they don't have middle school and high school grades counted together, I figured it would be better like this. (I really hope i did not confuse you more by this explanation)

if you think it is confusing and want me to write it in american system, message me and I can go back to change it ~thanks

now, without further delay, here is your chapter nine!

* * *

_..._

_Karin was up before the two girls could blink._

_"What are we waiting for, then?"_

...

There was a flock of people assembling at Retsu's table. Karin spotted the pink haired girl from earlier as well as majority of the guys Momo and Ran mentioned. Toshiro was behind the table talking to some people she didn't know and Retsu was running around with a big magician hat in her hand, handing out small pieces of paper.

To say Karin was confused would be an understatement, however, she observed carefully and decided to just copy whatever Rangiku or Momo were doing. Or, well, mostly Rangiku, because by the looks of it Momo ran off to greet a rather creepy looking older guy standing just a bit away from the table with Gin.

Retsu made her way to girls with radiant smile plastered on her face.

"Karin, dear, here you are!" she said in greeting, "take this paper, honey and write your name down."

Karin found herself with a slip of paper and a pencil – doing as she was told.

Apparently, Retsu was going to assign teams on random. Karin secretly hoped she would at least end up with somebody she knew.

After her host mother collected their names from everyone, she motioned for everybody to sit down, so she could assign teams.

"Hello, everyone!" begun Retsu with undiluted enthusiasm, "yearly Seireitei family games are about to begin. As every year, I'd like to welcome you and give out a friendly reminder:"

Karin thought Retsu was about to give out rules or punishments for cheating, but then Ran snickered and Retsu continued:

"All's fair in love and war! And the war is about to begin."

The seated crowd awarded her speech with snickers and laughs and Retsu reached for her ominous magician hat.

"This year you'll be divided into six teams, members of the team will be decided on random. You will compete in three of our traditional contests, earning points in each and every one of them. And, seeing as we have two exchange guests this year, there are going to be two bonus competitions for each of them!" Retsu explained, gaining a cheer from the crowd.

'People here sure take their festivals seriously,' Karin thought, observing the glee displayed by the group of mostly kids and teens seated around her.

When Retsu was about to start announcing the names, Karin noticed for the first time that there were flags with different colors hung on the nearby trees. She saw blue, green, red, yellow, black and purple as she glanced around the area.

She realized that the groups will probably be color coded – smart idea, really.

…

Toshiro paid little attention to Retsu's sorting, as he was momentarily preoccupied with a football tactics discussion with Grimmjow and Starrk.

"Toshiro, you go to the blue team," Retsu's voice interrupted him mid-sentence and he frowned.

The game talk will have to wait.  
He made his way towards the blue area, noticing – to his dismay – that the only two people there were Rangiku and Momo.

His luck…

"Shiro-pooh! You are with us! That's awesome!" Ran squealed happily, making Toshiro instantly wish he was somewhere very far away.

…

Karin was a first one to make her way to the purple area, watching as the rest of the kids got sorted slowly.

Soon she was joined by Ran's cousin Rukia, petite black haired girl she met on her first day in Seireitei, and one other girl whose name she didn't know.

"Hey Karin, nice to see you again, you remember me, right?" Rukia said briskly, and as if she wasn't really expecting any reply, she continued.

"This here is Nemu, she's my cousin," she went on, pointing her thumb to the taller black haired girl, "in this town basically everybody is cousins, you'll get used to it."

Then two tall guys that she remembered from Ran's boy-talk, Renji and Hisagi, joined their team and Rukia cackled maniacally. "We are _soo _gonna win this thing!"

Karin observed Rukia's rather villain-like excitement with a tad bit of worry. But since she was rather competitive herself, she decided to just go with it.

How did Retsu say it? All's fair in love and war. _And the war is about to begin_…

…

Toshiro was only half paying attention when Retsu announced that every team is going to have adult supervision, since younger kids were joining as well. Seeing just who was the supervision he suspected that adults just needed an excuse to join in the madness, ehm, fun.

His team was joined by Byakuya Kuchiki and his wife. And observing the fight going on over at red team, supervised by the explosive combo of Kenpachi and Kuukaku, Toshiro decided that their team could do a lot worse.

Hisana Kuchiki handed out blue ribbons they were supposed to tie to their wrists to identify themselves as team members. Meanwhile Byakuya stepped up said that they should decide on a team name, as per tradition.

Toshiro scanned his team quickly. Ran was having an animated conversation with Momo and Aizen, while Kira was trying to keep little Ururu seated long enough to tie the ribbon on her tiny wrist.

"I think we should be Blue Dragons," Toshiro said taking advantage of eveyone else being preocupied and since none of his teammates had input any other ideas, it was settled.

He would never admit it in front of anyone; much less Ran or Retsu, but he really enjoyed these games.

…

"Oi, so you are the new foreigner, right?" Renji asked, looking at Karin with expectation.

"Yeah, that's me." Karin snickered.

"Enough pleasantries! We have games to win!" sounded rather military-like voice as two peculiar men approached their group.

Karin observed with fascination as Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa introduced themselves as their supervisors.

Karin wasn't sure that 'Purple Rhinos' was the best team name, but there was no arguing with Rukia.

And so, with makeshift purple banner in tow, they made their way back to Retsu's table for the first challenge.

Ran mentioned basketball and while Karin loved sports she hoped it will be something more… down to the ground.

…

"So, everybody ready?!" shouted Retsu and as an answer, she got excited roar from the assembled teams.

"I want you to shout your team names one by one, so others can cheer for you while you compete!" Retsu said.

Toshiro watched with amusement as team by team shouted out their names, getting into the battle mode.

"Yellow!" shouted Retsu and as an answer she got drawled shout of "Yellow Lions!"

"Red!" she screamed again to get a reply-shout of "Red Hawks!"

"Black!" yelled his aunt and he could hear shrill voices of cheerleaders Loly and Menoly scream "Black Panthers!" in unison.

When Retsu called out Blue, he joined his team in screaming "Blue Dragons!" and could hear Momo and Ran giggling afterwards.

He spotted Karin, the exchange girl, in the purple team right next to Hisagi just when his aunt shouted "Purple" and he could see her grin as she shouted "Purple Rhinos!" together with her teammates.

The only one left was Green team, with rather peculiar membership and Toshiro had to suppress laughter when their shout of "Green Beans!" hit his ears.

Oh well, this will be entertaining.

Retsu announced that first will be the team sport challenge – and this year the vote fell on football.

Toshiro smiled to himself.

…

"When they say football," Karin asked a bit queasy, "they don't mean the European one, do they?"

Rukia laughed.

"No, I don't believe they do Miss Kurosaki," replied Nemu formally.

"Cut the crap Nemu, your dad's not around anyway." Renji said, jabbing Nemu into ribs in attempt on tickle, making her flinch.

"What she means, Karin," said Hisagi good-naturedly, "is that we are playing the American football."

"You know how to play, right?" Rukia asked arching her eyebrow.

"Ehm…" Karin let out uneasily.

…

The game was generously called American football, but in reality was more of a tackle tag.

The rules were reduced to 'takle whoever you see with a ball' or, alternatively, 'get the ball to the other side without being tackled'.

Toshiro swept his team with measuring glance, judging how much advantage they had.

Oh well, it could have been a lot worse…

…

Since there wasn't enough time for full blown football tournament, the teams got picked on random to compete against each other, so there would be three winners being awarded points and three losing teams with no points.

First up was Black team coached by Shunsui and Nanao against Yellow Lions led by deadly combo of Yoruichi and Soi-Fong.

Since Karin didn't know many kids on those teams, she spent majority of the game with Hisagi, trying to pick up as much football strategy as possible.

"So, word is you play soccer, is that right?" Hisagi asked and Karin lighted up.

"Yes, I do!" she said enthusiastically. "I am school team captain in fact."

"That's pretty cool, shortie – let's see how well you're gonna do in our football." Hisagi grinned to witch he got Karin's answer in form of a smack over his head.

Renji laughed so hard at Hisagi's flabbergasted expression that he started choking and Rukia had to perform some odd interpretation of Heimlich maneuver. Fun times.

Meanwhile Black Panthers suffered a shameful defeat delivered by Yellow lions and before Karin knew what was going on, her teammates were positioning her on the field, about to start with their game.

Ikkaku performed some rhino dance and together with Yumichika produced a battle cry that almost tore Karin's eardrums. Hopefully, purple team's play would be as good as their entrance.

Their opponents were the blue team and Karin's glee grew exponentially when she spotted the familiar faces of Toshiro, Ran and Momo.

Ran smiled at her and winked.

"Ready for the game, foreigner?" she asked jokingly.

"I don't know, you ready to lose?" Karin replied with the biggest shit eating grin she could muster.

"Some big words you've got there, midget." Momo snapped her head towards Toshiro in surprise at his words.

Karin glared at him but made her best effort to keep her mouth fixed on grin. "You know what they say, _bro_, bigger they are, harder they fall."

To which both Hisagi, Renji and Rukia started laughing. Nemu's expression remained neutral and Lilynette, little girl assigned to their team looked marginally bored.

With the sound of whistle, the game was on.

…

Toshiro ran for it the moment Aizen passed him the ball and was about to get to the line when Karin blocked him.

"Just how do you imagine you'll tackle me?" he asked in disbelieve, trying to run around her.

I mean, come on now, the girl couldn't have weighted more than Renji's baby sister.

…

Karin was the only one of her team left to stop Toshiro from scoring – they were winning so far and she wasn't about to let her team down.

But she had to admit her host brother had a pretty valid point. Physics were just not in her favor right now… or?

Karin crouched down a bit preparing for a jump and then used all the momentum she could muster to jump Toshiro. The boy in question obviously did not expect her to do that, because he flailed a bit and then fel to the ground.

There was a minute of utter silence before the cheers erupted from the onlookers.

It took a while to untangle from the pile of limbs and body parts, but Karin managed to sit up, using Toshiro's stomach as a seat. Her mouth spread in a wide grin as she looked down to astounded Toshiro.

"What have I told you about falling?" she asked, prying the ball from his slack hands and throwing in haphazardly in Renji's direction.

**…**

Purple Rhinos managed to keep their slight lead and win – much to Toshiro's dismay, but the games were far from over.

"I still can't believe she tackled you, just like that," Momo said for what seemed to him as a hundredth time. His only reply was a deep release of breath.

…

Karin sat on the ground in between Rukia and Nemu and felt the adrenalin slowly wash from her system. They won! She couldn't believe her own luck.

And the look on Toshiro's face when she managed to bring him down to the ground was one she will remember for a long time, she decided with a broad grin.

After Green Beans surprisingly beat the Red Hawks and Retsu had to step in to prevent Kempachi and Kuukaku from leveling the playground into the _ground_, the winners were announced.

Karin happily fist-bumped Hisagi after Retsu said that each winner earned 20 points.

"On to the second game," she yelled out happily, throwing her arms into the air.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Hi there, lovely people reading my story :) here comes the chapter 10 of my HitsuKarin story!

I am very happy about all the reviews I've gotten for the previous chapter (thank you **forever122**, **Iloveyouthismuch**, **Glo15Bug**, **biganimefan18 **and one confused Canadian **guest**, who has hopefully gotten less confused)

Also, you may like to know that my blind senile Russian cat lady of a spell-check rests in peace now and was replaced by an amazing phenomenal beta reader that is **Ickaser** :) So hopefully there will be less errors and general confusion :3

I hope you'll enjoy this chapter - tell me what you think ^w^

* * *

_Karin happily fist-bumped Hisagi after Retsu said that each winner earned 20 points._

_"On to the second game," she yelled out happily, throwing her arms into the air._

...

Toshiro observed warily as they approached the area Retsu had marked as the start of the next challenge.

"The next game is a race!" Retsu announced cheerfully, with a facial expression that made Toshiro instantly regret his life decisions.

This was not going to be good…

…

'Race!' Karin thought with delight. 'Now, that is something I'm good at.'

"It will be no ordinary race, mind you," Retsu continued, gaining the undivided attention of her audience – even the violent blue haired guy from the red team had stopped trying to maim his teammate and started to listen with a manic grin. (A/N: violent blue haired guy… just who might that be? :D )

"Each team will get a different map with a different set of stations. On this map you will have 5 challenges you have to fulfill if you want to finish the race!" Retsu explained looking from team to team.

"Plus, there will be a special trophy worth 20 points hidden somewhere in the area of the race. Once you find it, be careful because there isn't any rule saying other teams cannot steal it from you," Retsu continued, gaining cackles and grins from several guys. Karin became convinced that the trophy stealing was indeed a very appealing idea to many.

"I would ask you not to maim the opponent team in the effort to obtain it, though," Retsu said sternly and, to Karin's surprise, looked pointedly at Rangiku.

"What, that happened once! Just once!" tall blond defended herself heatedly. Karin could see Toshiro and several others laugh while Ran glanced over to a bit ashen Gin. Interesting… She should ask about that some other time.

After that Karin watched as her host mom handed out one colorful envelope to each team.

"It is almost two thirty now. Keep in mind that every team to complete all challenges before two hours are up gets a 10 point bonus. The winning team will gain 30 points, second place gets 15, and third gets 5," Retsu swiftly explained and glanced at her watch.

"Get ready teams! As of now, the race is on!" Retsu announced, and all hell broke loose.

…

Toshiro, who had somehow been pushed into the role of team captain (with a certain chilling feeling that the position would come and bite him in the ass later), swiftly tore open the envelope the minute his aunt started the race.

All of his teammates were up on their feet and ready to get going while the other teams were hastily running around. Toshiro studied the map in his hands and saw that there was a big number one on the map, positioned on the small hill on the far side of the lake. Assuming that the objective was to get the teams as far from each other as possible, Toshiro noted the directions other teams were heading in before waving his teammates over to follow him.

…

Karin excitedly followed Rukia and Renji, who led their team into what looked like an abandoned camping area. It was rather far from the beginning of the race and she'd guess it had taken them about ten minutes to just get there. From where she was standing, she was able to see a pile consisting of scissors, sheets of paper and something that looked like a shiny adhesive tape.

The bald man that was their team supervisor and whose name she had already forgotten was lying in the grass next to the pile and snoring lightly. Without his flashy and colorful companion, he looked almost normal, apart from the peculiar face paint.

"Oi, Ikkaku, quit snoring and tell us what the hell we are supposed to do!" Renji hollered, to which the baldy shot up from his lying position straight into a standing one, his hands readied in some bizarre martial arts move and a war whoop worthy of Jackie Chen laeving his mouth.

Rukia hit Renji's head with a fan making Renji mutter grumpily about violent midgets. Karin looked at the duo with awe. Firstly, she couldn't believe Renji was getting beaten by girl barely half his size. Secondly, she had absolutely no idea where did Rukia get that fan from to begin with.

"Serves you right for swearing in front of kids, Renji!" Rukia hissed, looking pointedly at Lilynette. "And I am not a midget!" she screeched, hitting him once more.

Lilynette, who was picking dirt from underneath her fingernails, paid the bickering duo no heed and instead looked up at Ikkaku. "Hey baldy, don't waste our time. We need to be a lot faster if I am gonna beat Coyote! He promised to buy me whatever I wanted if I win," she said, making Karin wince. Was it normal for a child to be that rude to adults? And what the hell is a Coyote?

"Who's a baldy, you little pipsqueak!" Ikkaku fired back, almost grabbing the little girl and shaking her. "I'll tell your brother to lock you into the basement again, if you don't behave."

Karin arched her eyebrows, but since no one from her team seemed to be alarmed she assumed that was a normal behavior around here. Americans are so strange…

…

Toshiro turned his head as he heard a scream that sounded surprisingly similar to Kenpachi's, only a lot shriller and squeakier. Oh, well.

His team finally arrived to the hilltop where their first station was supposed to be and he was mildly surprised to see Hisana Kuchiki seated there, in a blue polka-dotted collapsible fishing chair. "What took you so long?" she asked with a brilliant smile. At times, he could see the family resemblance with Rukia. Fortunately, the older woman did not have the habit of hitting people on random.

"Hishana," little Ururu exclaimed with delight when Kira took her down from his shoulders and let her walk where she wanted. This was the first year she, too, was able to compete and she was really excited about it. Toshiro was just glad that Kira, who had magic powers over girls aged 10 and under, was assigned to their team as well.

"Are you ready for the first challenge?" Hisana asked and team Blue Dragons replied with a unanimous cheer.

…

"So, listen up bubs!" Ikkaku declared finally, after finishing the bickering with Lily. "Here you have some paper. You are allowed 8 sheets – not a shred more – some duct-tape and scissors. Your first task is to build the tallest possible paper tower! The catch is: it has to stand on its own for at least a minute and you cannot lean it on anything else. You are allowed only paper, scissors and the tape." Ikkaku explained, looking warningly at each team member, as if any rule breaking would result in serious injuries.

"That's easy, just pile them one onto another and be done with it – what are you guys waiting for!" Renji shouted gaining disapproving look from Nemu, for a change. Karin figured that the tall ravenette liked things to be done in a thought out and orderly fashion, and thus an oaf of Renji's proportions was a big black stain on her flawless plans.

"Aren't you just adorable, pineapple head!" Ikkaku barked. "Didn't Retsu tell you? The ones to gain the best result on each station will be awarded 5 bonus points!"

"We have to think about this," Hisagi stated calmly, but Karin was already deep in thought.

The only unfazed one was, unsurprisingly, Lilynette.

"I suggest you brats brainstorm. Well, wake me up when you are done!" was the last thing Ikkaku threw their way before returning to his default position in the grass.

…

Hisana stood up gracefully and smiled at the blue team. "Your first task is this!" she said, motioning her hand to a peculiar pile. When Toshiro looked closer, he could see that the pile consisted of a lot of thick woolen strings tied to a plastic ring. In the middle of the ring haphazardly sat a slim plastic tube full of water.

Toshiro arched his eyebrows. What the hell?

"It is really easy," Hisana beamed at them. "There is one string attached to the ring for each of you. You need to balance it in such a way you do not spill any water when you move the ring. Each of you has to hold one string, but you can position yourself in any way you want," she continued looking from one team member to another.

"So what, we just hold it up?" Ran asked, as she crouched, giving the pile of strings a testing shove with her index finger.

"No silly," Hisana laughed. "You have to walk with it to that tree over there and back to me." Toshiro looked over to the tree she was pointing to and then down to Ururu who was jumping around in circles.

This would be fun. Maybe. Possibly. Not.

…

"Any more ideas, people? We don't have all day, you know!" Rukia exclaimed, looking from one blank face to another.

Karin, for one, was out of inspiration.

Every single thing they came up in last three minutes turned out to have some sort of problem in the plan. However, Karin noticed the calm and collected Nemu scribble frantically over her piece of paper and hoped the dark haired girl might come up with something that would work.

…

Picking up the ring proved to be the hardest part. It didn't help any that time was counted from the moment they touched the strings.

Toshiro tried to take the initiative into his hands and gave out instructions, but the fact that Momo was constantly giggling at some nonverbal communications she held with Rangiku, Aizen was paying more attention to the girls than to him, and Kira had his hands full with making sure Ururu didn't trip, it did not go very well.

Still, they somehow made it all the way to the tree - at a snail's pace. There were a few minor spills, but nothing terrible, and they were slowly making their way back. They were almost done and Hisana was cheering on them enthusiastically from her ridiculous polka-dotted chair.

"Come on guys, only a little more!" Toshiro said, checking if his teammates were doing alright.

Somehow they'd gotten the hang of the activity in the last few meters and successfully made it to the finish. Hisana stopped the timer and started clapping. Toshiro was putting his string away when Ururu decided to excitedly run over to Hisana. Unfortunately, she forgot she still had her string in hand.

Long story short, the tube full of water they were balancing the whole time ended bottoms up on the top of Toshiro's head. And of course the traitors he called teammates erupted in laughter.

Why did he like these games again?

Well, Toshiro thought grimly, at least there wasn't that much water inside that blasted thing in the first place.

…

Karin was convinced that their construction was the most majestic paper tower ever to see the light of the world.

It was tall – she was all but certain it wouldn't even fit into a room had they been building it inside – and stood proudly on its own.

Purple team looked a little worse for wear. Renji was covered in tape and almost drove Nemu to nervous breakdown by knocking the tower over thrice. Rukia cut into her finger with scissors on accident and Hisagi had a square bald spot in hairs on his leg where Lily stuck the duct-tape on it. Karin managed to get by with only a paper cut and was convinced their tower was absolute success. Also the one minute limit of standing on its own was almost up for the paper building and Karin was certain the victory in the challenge will cheer everybody up.

…

After mandatory picture taking, the Blue Dragons moved to the challenge number two and it did not escape Toshiro's attention they were slowly headed back to the starting point.

He kept his eyes trained on the map hoping his teammates had enough sense to try and spot the trophy.

But in all honesty, as long as Ran wasn't trying to rope him into some scheme of hers, he was perfectly content on letting his team do whatever they chose.

…

Purple Rhinos took few victory pictures with their master creation and after that it was a run towards the second station.

They were quite ways away, but Karin was already able to spot the show of colors that was undeniably Yumi.

After approaching she saw that Yumichika Ayasegawa was seated on a beach chair in such a haphazard fashion Karin was afraid he might break something in his attempt to stand up, but alas, the peculiar man rose with grace and smiled brilliantly at the assembled team.

Karin wasn't the only one that had to blink few times before really believing Yumi was able to defy the laws of physics and gravity in such great ways, but apparently, the man could do about anything he desired.

"How most extraordinary beautiful, you are already here for your second task!" he said airily, bringing Karin's focus back to the competition.

Her teammates nodded, which was sign enough for the flowery man to start with explanations.

"In this challenge your team has to build a tent." Yumichika said simply.

"Are you fucking serious?" Renji breathed out, obviously not believing his own luck. "I can do that on my own!"

"Language, Abarai!" Yumi said, making a displeased tsk-ing sound with his tongue in time with Rukia slapping Renji's head yet again.

"I reckon you should stop doing that, Rukia," Hisagi said, "I really don't wanna risk him getting any stupider –if you enjoy hitting him, pick another body part."

Rukia looked as if she was contemplating the given advice while Renji tried to refute the claim of his own stupidity, unsuccessfully.

Lilynette looked bored and Karin was beginning to think the little girl had no other emotions in her repertoire.

"You will, of course, be timed," Yumichika smiled as if he was laughing on his own joke.

"But what are those for?" Nemu inquired and Karin could feel the impending doom when she saw what could only be blindfolds.

"Oh but of course my dear, you wouldn't think it was that easy, would you?" Yumi smiled and Karin looked over to a pile of tent parts with dread.

Now this will be funny.

…

Blue team found their way to the second station where they were greeted by another Kuchiki, Byakuya this time.

Toshiro noticed the parts for building a simple tent laid down on the ground at the same moment as Aizen asked: "Are we gonna build a tent, really? I could do that blindfolded!"

Momo looked at him with admiration but Toshiro was more preoccupied by the smug expression on Byakuya's face. Now that was never a good sign.

"Well good, because that's what you will be doing." He said simply and handed out the blindfolds.

…

Karin was little amazed at how well their team was faring in the tent challenge. While she personally felt like a blind madman with no idea what to do, Lilynette and Nemu proved to have a surprisingly good grasp of building a tent, blindfold notwithstanding.

Rukia's clear voice was giving out orders methodically and Karin knew they were only few steps from completing the challenge.

Yumi told them he would stop the timer the moment tent was built, every member of the team inside and zipper on the front door zipped up.

Karin and Rukia were checking for any stray parts, but it seemed all was where it was supposed to be – on the tent.

"Girls, get here, it's up!" Hisagi stated, making Renji cackle.

"Now where is the zipper," asked Nemu once everybody was inside.

"It's here, in between my legs!" Renji deadpanned.

Karin had to cover her mouth not to wheeze in laughter.

But obviously, pineapple head didn't realize his own innuendo.

But minute later, nothing could suppress Karin's laughter when she heard Renji's horrified: "WRONG ZIPPER, NEMU!"

…

Over with blue team, things weren't looking that great.

Despite Toshiro's best efforts in leadership, their team was undisciplined at best.

The strong link in this challenge was, quite unexpectedly, Rangiku.

"With number of tents I had to build during the night, I am a little disappointed this isn't going faster," she confessed, passing Shiro a stick to finish putting up the tent.

Aizen almost managed to topple the whole thing while entering the tent, fortunately, with little help from Ran, he just ended up falling on his butt.

"Is everybody inside?" Aizen asked rather sullen after his mishap with entrance.

"I think so," said Momo, but Toshiro got this strange feeling someone wasn't there.

"Guys, I don't wanna panic," piped up Kira, "but where is Ururu?"

…

Timer stopped, picture taken, Nemu and Renji still a bit flushed but nonetheless team Purple Rhinos was on the roll.

And they were slowly approaching their next station.

How big was Karin's surprise when she saw the familiar shine of bald head in the grass.

"What took you brats so long, eh?" drawled the rough voice of Ikkaku Madarame and the whole team made an abrupt stop.

"You again?!" Lily screeched, but Rukia put a stop to the impending fight before it could start.

"So what is the task?" Asked Karin, keen to get moving.

"Oh, you will like this one!" Ikkaku cackled and showed them what was behind him.

Karin observe the layout of the area with curiosity.

There were colored ropes marking two circles in the grass - a large circle with a bucket full of water in the middle and then a smaller circle with a small empty plastic tub in the middle.

"This is an area of nuclear contamination," started Ikkaku with all seriousness.

"There is a container full of toxic waste that needs to be relocated. However, both location areas are unfortunately contaminated." He said, motioning towards bucket and the circles.

"You cannot step into the marked area. The only thing you can use for moving the container are these." He finished and gave them two long thick ropes.

"Oh goodie," Hisagi exhaled and Nemu looked at the bucket unhappily.

This did not look easy.

…

Meanwhile Blue Dragons, with Ururu in tow, finally completed the tent challenge and made their way to the next station.

There, Hisana was, again, waiting for them.

She explained the paper tower challenge and left them to their musings.

…

Back in the 'contaminated' area Purple Rhinos were hopeless.

"Ikkaku, give, how do you do this?" Renji pleaded.

"Well, dumbass, most teams just use them ropes, why else would I give them to you?!" Ikkaku snapped in reply.

"Excuse me," Nemu piped up politely, "I believe I have an idea."

Karin looked at the tall girl with undiluted amazement as she explained her plan.

They could soooo do that!

…

Toshiro wasn't sure if their tower was the tallest, but it was standing and they were able to move on rather fast.

The next station was manned by Byakuya, yet again, which led Toshiro to believe that the supervisors were handling the stations for all the teams.

This station was just a rock throw from the lake and Toshiro looked suspiciously at the things laid out at Kuchiki's feet.

"So, what do we do here Byakuya?" asked Rangiku impartiently.

"Well, Ran, you have to make this duckling float." He said holding up yellow rubber duckling.

Ran arched her eyebrow.

"In this," Byakuya finished and held up what look like an old plastic pipe. It was few inches wide, just enough for the rubber duck to fit in there comfortably and without getting stuck, and about three feet tall.

Moreover, it was full of small little holes made into the plastic in an organized fashion.

"The tube has to stay here," Kuchiki instructed as he set the tube on the ground, rubber duck already inside.

"You can use these two," he said pointing to two regular buckets, "and the lake, of course."

"Tell me when to start the time."

…

Nemu's idea was relatively easy and effective, if carried out properly.

They laid out the ropes on the ground and let Lily lie on them. Then Renji and Hisagi stretched the ropes and essentially floated Lilynette into the circle. There she swiftly grabbed the bucket and guys carried her over to the deposit area, where she dumped it into the plastic tub. The only thing left for Rukia, Nemu and Karin to do was to cheer and navigate.

"You are genius Nemu!" Karin called out happily.

Nemu showed a first genuine smile Karin had seen on her face and thanked her politely.

Well, that was third challenge down, only two more!

…

Turns out it is not all that easy to fill a leaking pipe, but somehow, team Blue Dragons managed.

Toshiro was wet from the top of his spiky white head all the way to his toes, and his teammates were no different, but the duck was afloat and the timer stopped.

They all grinned at Byakuya victoriously as the guys held up Ururu squeezing the yellow duck for their obligatory picture.

…

Purple Rhinos survived red ambush looking for the special trophy, but since the purple team had yet to so much as see the blasted thing, Red Hawks passed on rather fast.

Next challenge with Yumichika and balancing a ring with water filled little tube was tedious, but they manage to complete it in decent time. And now, Karin was looking unconvinced at the rubber duck and pipe full of holes.

…

Last challenge to complete for Blue dragons was the toxic waste one. They use the conventional method – danced around the circles with ropes until they somehow managed to dump a bucket into the plastic tub.

After finishing, still rather wet from the rubber duck challenge, but happy, they discarded Aizen's idea to look for (read steal) the trophy and instead decided to hurry to place first and get points for that.

…

"I don't want to see rubber ducks for the rest of my life!" Karin moaned as she wrung the water from her tank top. Had she knew they would be getting wet, she'd have brought her swimsuit.

Oh goodie.

At least, it was finally, done!

Now they better be the first ones in the finish.

…

Toshiro thought he'd have an aneurysm when, 50 meters from finish line, Ururu proclaimed she has to go pee-pee.

And thus the rather annoyed team Blue Dragons arrived into the finish second, falling only shortly behind winning Red Hawks.

Toshiro noted with amusement that Zaraki was clutching an ice pack to his balls while Kuukaku looked a lot smugger than usual. Scary people.

…

Karin was surprised to see they were in finish fourth, but since they managed to make it before the two hour limit was up, they got the extra points for that at least.

All the teams mingled together, waiting for the rest to finish and so she set of to find Rangiku and Momo so she could chat with someone familiar.

She was surprised to find Ran alone, looking rather sourly to the distance.

"Why the long face, Ran?" Karin asked, proudly using the expression she'd learned earlier that day.

"Nothing, Sweetie, absolutely nothing," said Ran, switching from cloudy to sunny in matter of seconds. Karin did not believe the busty blonde for a moment, but perhaps, it was too early in their friendship to push it.

Kirio, the chubby lady who Karin remembered to be Ran, Isane and Kyone's mom ran among the kids and offered snacks to anyone and everyone who didn't run from her reach fast enough.

Almost half an hour later the last team finally found their way to the finish and Karin stored away a very important piece of information:

Never let little Yachiru take over the directions.

…

some more A/N: Ickaser pointed out to me, that the challenges/tasks the teams did may be a bit confusing, so do not hesitate to ask anything you don't uderstand :)


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